By the Christmas Tree
by Sherlocksangel
Summary: It's Cas' first Christmas and he wants to make it special. Hints at Destiel.


Sam was laughing at him again.

Honestly he couldn't blame him. If their roles were reversed, Dean would have taken pictures and sent them out to everyone they knew by now. Luckily Sam showed some sort of restraint in the matter.

Dean still couldn't believe he had lost the bet. He could have sworn the guy at the bar would have struck out with the curvy blond. How was Dean to know she was a chubby-chaser?

Unfortunately Dean had come up with the terms of their bet, and he remembered watching the odd couple slink out of the bar as Sam slapped him on the back with a, "Tough luck, man." He had grumpily threatened to leave the bar without Sam, but that hadn't stopped the gloating that ensued.

"I'm gonna frigging choke you if you don't shove it," Dean threatened, pointing a finger at his brother from across the room.

"Aw, c'mon Dean. Get in the holiday spirit!" Sam chided annoyingly.

"You call this garbage 'holiday spirit?'" Dean asked skeptically, picking at the puke-green Christmas sweater that draped his body uncomfortably, clinging in odd places. Sam got to pick it out at a thrift shop that they had found near the bunker. Naturally, Sam had managed to find the ugliest one possible.

"It's Christmas- lighten up! Plus you look adorable in it," Sam said with a laugh.

"Whatever," Dean muttered. "Just give me a piece of pie."

Sam complied and walked to the kitchen as Dean made himself comfortable on the couch.

"Where's Cas at?" Dean asked, noticing the sudden absence.

Sam shrugged, walking towards Dean with his piece of pie on a plate. "He said he had to go out and do something, and then he disappeared."

"Well, is he coming back?" Dean questioned, his brow furrowed as he accepted the plate.

"I don't know, man. I didn't get the chance to ask him anything until he was gone."

Dean didn't reply, and instead sat up on the couch, setting the plate of pie aside. Sam noticed but didn't comment on it. Instead he said, "Dude, Cas got his grace back. He'll be alright."

"I still don't like the idea of him being out there by himself with all of the other angels searching for him. Plus, don't you think it's a little too soon? I mean he only got his grace back a month ago. Shouldn't he have time to get back on his feet?"

Dean watched as Sam opened his mouth to reply, but his brother's gaze shot to over his shoulder, and he whipped around.

Standing behind him in a colorful Christmas sweater was their missing angel.

"Cas!" Dean exclaimed, trying to hide his relief. "Where you been?"

"I...had some things to take care of," Cas replied, lifting his arms up, and that was when Dean noticed the Christmas bags hanging from his arms.

"You left to get us...presents?" Dean asked, a smile touching his lips as he quirked his eyebrows questioningly.

"Is this not a human tradition?" Cas asked, suddenly unsure about himself.

"No, Cas you got it right," Sam reassured him before Dean got the chance to. "It's really thoughtful of you."

Cas beamed with pride. "I wanted to celebrate my first Christmas on earth the right way- though I do not understand the importance of celebrating the birth of Christ. He was actually quite the alcoholic...but anyways. I have another surprise."

"Oh good, another surprise. Because we don't get surprises often enough, right?" Dean joked good-naturedly.

Cas didn't reply, and instead set the bags on the ground before disappearing again.

"Wha- Cas!" Dean called, and then shook his head. "Unbelievable." He stood up and walked into the kitchen to grab a beer.

"What did you do anyways, pick out a matching sweater for Cas?" Dean called from the kitchen.

Sam gave a small laugh. "Yeah actually. And unlike you, he was perfectly willing to put it on. In fact, he was thankful for it."

Dean snorted. "He would be."

Right then, Cas poofed back into the room, but his entire figure was obscured by a six- foot-tall pine tree.

"Where would you like me to put this," he asked, his voice muffled.

"Uh...here let me help," Sam answered, leaping up from his spot on the couch to aid the angel. Together they carried the tree over the an open space while Dean watched them still in shock.

"Cas, where'd you get that?" he asked.

"There is this small tree farm in Iowa that I visited once a fear years ago. A woman's child was dying of pneumonia and she was praying for help."

Both brothers looked at the angel. Noticing the attention, he shrugged awkwardly. "It was nothing. I do it all the time."

Dean raised his eyebrows and cleared his throat but didn't comment on it. Instead he said, "Anyways, what do you think we're going to decorate that with?"

"More importantly, what are we going to use to hold it up?" Sam asked, still supporting the tree.

"I believe I got it covered," Cas said, retrieving a paper bag that Dean hadn't noticed had been set down on the floor with the presents.

First he pulled out a tree stand and brought it over to where Sam stood. Together they worked it in and backed away as the pine stood by itself.

As they finished with that, Sam noticed the way Dean watched with reservation. "Aren't you going to help?"

Dean was remembering the last Christmas they had actually celebrated, the one before he was dragged to hell. Both he and Sam had believed it would be their last one together. But here they all were, together and marginally safe in their ancestors' bunker, a place they could finally call their own.

"Eh, why not," he replied with a smile, setting his beer down. Part of the reason he went along with it was because he knew that that's what would make Cas happy

Cas beamed and grabbed the bag. "I also brought decorations," he said, pulling a wound up string of garland out, along with a couple boxes of ornaments.

"Let's see what you got here," Dean replied, grabbing one of the boxes. A laugh escaped his lips when he saw what Cas had gotten.

"Hello Kitty?" Sam choked out before he had a fit of laughter.

"I did not have wide selection to choose from," Cas defended, self-consciously.

"No, no. They're perfect, Cas, really," Dean said with a smile that the other one matched.

Sam cleared his throat, interrupting the moment. "Let's start with the garland.

An hour and many pine needles on the floor later, the three stood back and admired their work. They hadn't realized until halfway through that they wouldn't have enough garland to distribute it as fully as they had started, so there was exponentially more on top than the bottom. The last foot didn't even have any surrounding it. The two dozen Hello Kitty decorations hung, spread out as evenly as possible. Sam had to explain to both Cas and Dean that you can't put them right next to each other because it looks cluttered. "I don't see why it matters," Dean had grumbled, moving the ornament he had just placed to a new location. Cas also surprised them by pulling out some candy canes that they also proceeded to place on the tree.

"It looks like a fairy threw up on it," Dean commented.

"I think it looks nice," Cas replied contentedly. "And there isn't anybody else I would have rather done it with than you two. Thank you." He gave both Sam and Dean a sincere smile that they returned.

"Yeah of course, Cas," Sam said squeezing his shoulder.

"I would like you to open your presents now, if it is an alright time."

"Sure, but I feel bad because we didn't get you anything," Sam said sheepishly.

"Do not worry about that, you guys already do enough for me," Cas assured him. He then grabbed the other bag that had been left untouched on the floor during their decorating. From it he pulled out two very poorly wrapped presents. "Do we, uh, do this by the tree?" Cas asked, suddenly unsure of himself again. "This is all very new to me."

"Yeah, sure, if you want to do it there that's fine Cas," Sam replied. Dean rolled his eyes and muttered something about being in an old Christmas movie and wanting to puke, but Sam elbowed him. Dean relented, knowing that he had to do it for Cas. He would do anything for Cas.

Once they all settled by their unlit tree, Cas handed the larger of the presents to Sam. He took it with a smile and a nod and tore at the snowman-covered wrapping paper. There was obviously a lot of tape involved as he struggled to reveal the clothes box inside. Opening it up, Sam revealed an ugly, burnt orange sweater.

"Thanks, Cas," Sam laughed.

"Do you like it?" Cas asked hopefully.

"I really do. Now we can all match."

"Oh good, so we can all be like the dad from National Lampoon," Dean grumbled, but he laughed as Sam threw it on over the flannel he was already wearing. It had a choker collar that was a yellow, along with the ends of the sleeves. On it was a giant brown reindeer surrounded by gingerbread cookies.

"You know, Cas, I think you beat Sam in the ugly sweater-finding contest," Dean commented, patting the angel on the back as he smiled proudly.

"Now yours, Dean," he said, handing Dean the thin package he had wrapped in a snowflake wrapping paper. The wrapping job was a little better, Dean noted, peeling off the tape and ripping the paper. Inside were two Busty Asian Beauties magazines.

"I can put these to go use tonight," Dean said with a small chuckle, setting them aside. Sam rolled his eyes and stood up.

"Thank you, Cas," he said sincerely. "This has been the best Christmas yet."

Cas nodded. "You are very welcome, Sam. I guess you could say it's been the best Christmas for me as well."

The rest of their Christmas consisted of sitting around the TV watching It's a Wonderful Life (Dean couldn't help himself from making fun of it, but Sam could tell he enjoyed it), playing pool in the billiards room ("What doesn't this place have," Dean had said), and eating a frozen turkey dinner that Sam had done the best he could to prepare, adding a cranberry sauce and some potatoes made from a box. They were all just sitting around the fireplace when Sam announced he was going to bed.

"Isn't it a little early?" Dean asked, as always worrying about his younger brother.

"I'm just tired," Sam assured him, getting up from his seat. He started to leave, but he turned towards where Cas perched on the other end of the same couch as Dean. "Thank you, Cas. Really," he said sincerely. "Today couldn't have been better."

"Well the chicken was a little dry," Dean muttered, but Cas talked over him.

"You are welcome, Sam. It is my pleasure to make you two happy." He and Sam shared a smile before Sam retreated to his room with a "goodnight" thrown over his shoulder.

After that, Cas and Dean sat in silence for a few minutes, Dean taking occasional swigs of his beer and Cas just watching the flames.

Cas was the first to break the silence. "I have something else for you, Dean," he said hesitantly.

Dean grunted and looked at the angel, all the way on the other end of the couch. "Yeah?"

Cas said nothing and instead stood up and walked toward the sprawled out man until he was in front of him. Interested, Dean sat up and set his beer on the side table. As he looked back up, he noticed how blue Cas' eyes looked in the firelight.

Dean cleared his throat. "What do you got? If it's more porn magazines I think I'll be set for the next week," he joked, suddenly tense. The blue eyes stared into his own, intently.

Instead of replying, Cas reached into his pocket and pulled out a small black box.

"I know it's been a while, but I figured you may want it back after going without it for so long," Cas explained quietly as Dean took it.

Dean opened it and froze when he saw the item inside.

It was the amulet Sam had gotten him when they were younger, the one that he had thrown away after Cas' search for God had failed.

"How did you find it?" Dean asked as he gently picked the necklace up, his voice rough.

"I...I didn't," Cas started, and Dean's gaze shot up at him. "I saw you throw the amulet away, and as soon as you and Sam left that hotel I retrieved it. I've been keeping it safe ever since."

Dean stared at the angel, realizing just how much that meant. Cas had kept it for years, through every fight, through the almost-apocalypse, the leviathans, becoming God, losing his grace and falling through heaven. He had blown-up and basically been reincarnated, for Christ's sake! As soon as he had become human he had lost the trench coat, but still he kept the amulet on him.

All for Dean.

Dean felt the gravity of the moment, felt it suspended in time. The noise of the crackling fire somehow matched the beating of his heart in a strange melody as they echoed together. Like honey flowing slow and steady, he stood up so that he was almost nose-to-nose with the angel that stood in front of him.

"Thank you, Cas," he whispered, his voice raw with emotion.

"You are welcome, Dean," Cas replied, his tone smooth and just as quiet as the other man's. Neither of them wanted to disturb the fragility of the moment they were facing.

Hesitantly, though, Dean found his arms snaking out to grasp Cas in a firm embrace. Underneath his fingers he felt the fibers of the disgustingly-colored sweater, and underneath that the movement of the angel's muscles as he slowly returned the hug.

Realizing that the embrace was getting to the point of awkward, Dean cleared his throat and pulled away.

"Thanks. It's the best gift you could have given me," he said, unsure of how to follow up the moment they had just shared.

Cas simply nodded as he watched Dean lower himself onto the couch, and at the same time restore the amulet to its original home- around his neck. There it rested and would rest, Cas knew, for a long time.

Instead of prolonging the awkwardness, the angel lowered himself on the couch as well, this time right next to Dean. There sock-clad feet touched, but Dean did not protest so Cas said nothing.

Dean looked over at the tree, fingering the pendant that now rested on his chest. "You know," he said, trying to overcome the strange feeling that had settled in the pit of his stomach, "most people put an angel on the top of their tree."

Cas' brow furrowed. "Would you like to put me on top?"

Dean threw his head back and laughed at the image Cas perching at the top of the pine. It wouldn't even support him.

"I mean, if you really wanted to," he said, and that in turn led to a discussion of all of the strange traditions humans had developed to celebrate Christmas. The conversation lasted late into the night, but Dean didn't care. For once he felt content.


End file.
